Greetings everyone,
My sincere appreciation to Mr. Dibar Apartian for keeping you informed while I was away from the office. He will report to you when I am traveling in the future. At least his "Texas accent" is muted when he writes.
My wife and I returned from Montana (heavenly place it is) back into the hustle and bustle of the southern California region. What a contrast!
We surely enjoyed the beautiful Northern Rockies and the fresh Montana air. We were surprised to find that a mother squirrel had managed to enter our cabin from under the bathtub and make a nest for herself and her young ones. My wife strongly objected to sharing our domicile and insisted on eviction of mother squirrel. Eviction notice was given immediately but the implementation took some heroic action on Dorothy's part! I assure you that "mother Dorothy" won the bout!
Most of you have heard that while I was in Montana Dr. Meredith and Mr. Richard Ames met with my brother Raymond and his wife, Eve. As Dr. Meredith announced last Sabbath in San Diego, they are now restored to our fellowship. This gives my wife and me great joy! We thank the scores of you who have expressed your joy and support of Dr. Meredith's announcement. Forgiveness and repentance are true tests of the heart. We pray that one day all of our estranged brethren are unified in the Spirit of Christ our Elder Brother. The adversary has hammered God's Church into smithereens, but by God's Grace and heartfelt repentance of our self-will, we may one day become at one with Christ. We should know that the KEY to Spiritual fellowship is first a fellowship with the Father and Christ.
General Announcements:
Mr. Gerald Weston, Director of Living Youth Camp 2000:
"Living Youth Camp 2000 has received and accepted more applicants than ever before. This year the camp is full and we regret we have had to turn away a number of very qualified campers and staff. Sabbath Services at Northwoods Christian Camp are reserved for LYC participants. In addition, the administrators at Northwoods have given us permission to invite to our Sabbath Services the small congregation that meets in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Because of space considerations and our agreement with Northwoods, we cannot accept additional guests. Thank you in advance for your cooperation."
Mr. Paul Shumway, Pastor (from Minneapolis, Minnesota):
We have some very sad news regarding the Hix family. Bill Hix died Saturday night at about midnight. This will be an extra burden for Donna and Joe to bear, since they lost John (Joe's twin brother) just 8 months ago. Please pray fervently and consistently for them and the family. The funeral service was 2:00 p.m. Thursday at Brenny Funeral Home of Brainerd, Minnesota. Cards may be sent to:
Donna and Joe Hix
12211 43rd Avenue SW
Pillager, MN 56473
FESTIVAL DEPARTMENT:
A music coordinator is needed for the Lake of the Ozarks Festival site. If you would like to attend this beautiful location for the Feast of Tabernacles and have the ability to lead a choir and coordinate special music, please contact Mr. James Wells by one of the following:
Phone: 816 358-9606
E-mail: [email protected]
Mr. Eng Monson has asked for the following announcement to be made concerning Cranbrook:
Because of my error, the May-June issue of the Living Church News has the Cranbrook B.C. site, listed incorrectly. The mistake concerns the Phone No. for the Festival Site at Cranbrook B.C.
Please note: the Phone number listed for the Prestige Rocky Mountain Resort is incorrect.
The correct Ph.No. is 1-250-417-0444 for booking a room on Site.Eng Monson
News from Northern Ireland:
Mrs. Hilary Murphy wrote us:
Hello again from Northern Ireland—a troubled and tense place: as this very day, many celebrate the culmination of the annual "marching season" for those of the Orange Order. All of the Living brethren are fine: exercising wisdom by staying off the streets while protesters and rioters have taken to the streets of Belfast and many towns and villages all over the province.
We do not yet know if today's marches will put an end to the ongoing rioting and province-wide, "loyalist" roadblocks. Businesses and stores have been forced to close early on Monday and Tuesday of this week.Today and tomorrow are public holidays so we will wait to see if we are allowed to return to normal. Those of us who have acted upon Mr. Meredith's advice to have a "store cupboard", are perhaps going to have to use a part of it if stores are not able to get back to normal trading.
News From South Africa:
The Work in South Africa is producing excellent fruit as the following letter from Mr. Hermann Labuschagne indicates:
We were very sorry to hear about Mr. Contardi this morning. I don't know how you will fill his position easily. He was a good man and we really enjoyed having him with us at the Feast two years ago.
So far, all is going well with my family and the Church too. We have had a nice number of new members with us over the last months, and you probably already know about the newspaper ads that are creating a phenomenal response at this time. Everybody is very excited about it!
News from the Philippines:
Mr. and Mrs. Rod McNair returned July 9, from station in Manila. They are looking for living quarters in Sacramento, California this week. Mr. McNair will pastor Sacramento and Reno, Nevada. He will continue to oversee the Philippine work, making visits on a quarterly basis if internal political conditions in the Philippines do not preclude them. Mr. McNair wrote in his recent update:
Please continue praying for our brethren in Mindanao. I believe they are in more imminent danger than those of us in Metro-Manila. We have many brethren who live side-by-side with Muslims, and have so for many years, in peace and harmony. Should this situation continue to get worse, it may polarize many of these communities until ordinary civilians — Muslim and Christian — are taking up arms just to protect their neighborhood. I was very encouraged by the letter we received from one of our members in Ireland last week, in which they mentioned that through all of the years of political conflict in Northern Ireland, God had protected His faithful, obedient people from harm, although many had close brushes with danger. We are grateful that God has given our people that kind of protection in the current Mindanao crisis today.
News from New Zealand:
Mr. Kinnear Penman wrote the following message this week:
I received this from our member family in Solomon Islands. The latest is that things seem to be calming down. But there may have been up to 100 deaths in fighting between two militant groups. The Prime Minister has resigned which was a major demand of the coup perpetrators. Interestingly, the situations in Fiji and Solomon Islands have lead Maori radicals here in NZ to declare that when the time is right the same sort of indigenous power grab will be made here. People have correctly pointed out that although Maoris make up only 10% of NZ's population they make up 60% of the armed forces.
Texas 3 Kick Rule:
I hope that you enjoy the following story sent to me by Mr. Dexter Wakefield as much I did. I am reasonably sure our Texas brethren will applaud long and loud!
A big-city, California, lawyer went duck hunting in rural Texas. He shot and dropped a bird, but it fell into a farmer's field on the other side of a fence.
As the lawyer climbed over the fence, an elderly farmer drove up on his tractor and asked him what he was doing. The litigator responded, "I shot a duck and it fell into this field, and now I'm going to retrieve it."
The old farmer replied, "This is my property, and you are not coming over here."
The indignant lawyer said, "I am one of the best trial attorneys in the U.S. and, if you don't let me get that duck, I'll sue you and take everything you own."
The old farmer smiled and said, "Apparently, you don't know how we do things in Texas. We settle small disagreements like this with the Texas Three-Kick Rule."
The lawyer asked, "What is the Texas Three-Kick Rule?"
The Farmer replied, "Well, first I kick you three times and then you kick me three times, and so on, back and forth, until someone gives up."
The attorney quickly thought about the proposed contest and decided that he could easily take the old codger. He agreed to abide by the local custom.
The old farmer slowly climbed down from the tractor and walked up to the city feller. His first kick planted the toe of his heavy work boot into the lawyer's groin and dropped him to his knees. His second kick nearly wiped the man's nose off his face. The barrister was flat on his belly when the farmer's third kick to a kidney nearly caused him to give up.
The lawyer summoned every bit of his will and managed to get to his feet and said, "Okay, you old coot! Now, it's my turn!"The old farmer smiled and said, "No, I give up. You can have the duck!"
Have a great Sabbath!
Carl E. McNair